by Megan Curd
Alice’s voice regained my attention. “Where would we go, Jax?”
So she’d started calling him Jax. For some reason, it felt like I needed to refrain from calling him that. If I called him Jax, he would win. That’s what he wanted; for me to acknowledge him as familiar. I smiled at the thought of my mini resistance against him.
“Anywhere but here,” he said fiercely. “We’ll find a dome that’s safe, change our names and blend in. But until we leave, you need to make me a promise.”
Alice was nearly breathless. “What’s that?”
“That you’ll fight. Not against what’s happening to you, I don’t mean that, but that you’ll fight to stay positive in the face of adversity. Anyone can be positive when things are going right, it’s when things are at their lowest that our integrity and determination are tested. I failed that test. Every day I regret how I’ve handled myself in the past. I don’t want you to lose yourself because of the hand you’ve been dealt. This situation isn’t permanent. You’ll make it out to see the other side, and Avery, Sari, and I will be there with you.”
The depth of Jaxon’s words surprised me. It was becoming obvious that the arrogance he usually displayed was a ruse.
Sari gave me a look that seemed to say I told you so. I pushed her shoulder teasingly with two fingers and she held in a laugh.
“You like her, don’t you?” Alice said out of the blue.
Jaxon coughed nervously. “What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Avery?”
Alice huffed the way she always did when she got annoyed at me for playing dumb. She had no patience for people avoiding her questions, and her desire for good gossip was insatiable. “No, I mean your shadow. Of course I mean Avery.”
I leaned in closer to the sliver of the open door so I wouldn’t miss anything. I was suddenly a lot more interested in eavesdropping.
Sari looked at me and grinned, her voice barely audible. “Oh no, you need to learn the answer to that question on your own.”
“Don’t you dare, Sari. I want to hear his answer!”
There was no stopping her. She pushed past me, opened the door and strode in like she owned the place. I tried to grab her ankles but she dodged, leaving me grasping air and nearly falling on my face. “Alice, how are you feeling?” she said.
In the uneven light that poured from the hallway, Jaxon looked flushed. His eyes met mine, but only for a moment. Had Alice’s question embarrassed him? I internally cursed Sari for breaking their conversation off.
Jaxon crawled to the foot of the bed. When he stood, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and focused on Alice. She smiled weakly and rested her head against the wooden headboard. Along the top were beautiful filigree ivy designs that spread over the corners and halfway down the sides.
Alice reached up and traced one of the vines with a finger. “I’m okay, I guess.”
Her eyes bore into Jaxon’s, and I had to fight back a laugh. I knew that look; it was the same one I’d received time and time again when Alice missed out on a juicy bit of information by a hair. Jaxon was in trouble; Alice wouldn’t let this rest until she had her answer, come hell or high water. She pulled her focus from Jaxon and looked at Sari. “My chest hurts, but Jax said that would pass.”
“Good,” Sari said encouragingly as she sat down beside Alice. “Jax knows what he’s talking about. He won’t lead you wrong.”
As Sari and Alice began to talk, Jaxon sidled over to me and nudged my shoulder with his. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah. I told Xander I’d stop by and check on Legs.”
Jaxon nodded thoughtfully and then smiled. “Fair enough. Afterward you’re mine. Deal?”
“You make it sound so sinister.”
He swept his arm around the lower half of his face to obscure his nose and mouth, then leaned in close to me. “Maybe because it is,” he said in a sinister voice. “You forget that I’m quite unrefined.”
“Really? I wouldn’t think so after seeing you be so kind to Alice.”
“I have my moments,” Jaxon said casually, “then I return to my natural state of sarcasm. The world is full of too-nice people. I’m here to keep the balance.”
“Always thinking of others.”
He gave me one of the biggest smiles I’d ever seen. It took my breath away. “In a completely self-serving way, yes.”
He extended his elbow to me in an open invitation. I accepted it, and called over to Sari one last time. “You going to be okay here?”
Sari smiled. “Of course. Go save the world, or whatever it is you two are planning to do.”
As we left the room I realized that I’d be content to start with saving ourselves.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
The cold halls of the academy seemed to suck the warmth from my body as Jaxon and I walked soundlessly beside one another. Moonlight washed all the color from the banners that hung eerily still in the night, and the sound of water hitting the fountain pool echoed against the walls in the absence of the usual commotion. It was almost ethereal.
Jaxon’s rhythmic breathing was the only reassurance that I wasn’t alone in the near darkness. The low-powered emergency lights flickered off and on, causing my eyes to never really adjust to the dark. We trekked by touch; something I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable with. It felt too intimate and made me reliant on Jaxon to lead the way.
“For having electricity, this place doesn’t use it when you need it most.”
Jaxon laughed. “Just because you have something, doesn’t mean you misuse it.”
“So you’re saying we’re conserving energy for more important things?”
“Precisely.”
“Such as?”
Jaxon’s voice hardened. “Such as trying to keep people out. I never said the usages were for good things, only that the Academy conserved where they could.”
I hated being dependent on anyone, especially the dreadlocked, handsome boy whose angular features were exaggerated in this light. When I cast a glance in his direction, his eyes were locked on mine and I felt self-conscious. I pulled the hair band from around my wrist and quickly pulled my wild hair back into a messy bun.
I eyed him warily. “What are you looking at?”
Even in the dim light, I could see the enjoyment he got from making me uncomfortable. “I would think that was obvious.”
“Me?”
Instead of answering, Jaxon snorted and continued to walk into the atrium. He exuded assurance in each step, but what I first mistook for arrogance, I began to see was self-preservation. We weren’t so different; neither of us was willing to get to know anyone, willing to give others a chance, for fear of being hurt. We just handled it differently.
He stopped when he reached the fountain and looked back in my direction. His usual pride was nowhere to be found. He smiled, and the moonlight enhanced his already good looks.
“Are you going to stand in the hallway, or are you coming with me? I thought you wanted to go visit your boyfriend?”
I startled at the playful accusation and walked toward him, waving away his words with a quick snap of my wrist. “Legs is not my boyfriend. Xander asked me to stop by because Legs was asking about me.”
Jaxon resumed the journey to Xander’s office. “Uh huh,” he said lightly. “I wonder if you’d come see me, were I in the infirmary. I’m pretty sure I’d be lucky to get a card.”
“Only if the card was free.”
We both laughed at the same time. He looked my way, but then quickly went back to watching our surroundings.
Was I seriously flirting with him?
I think I was.
Part of me wanted to do a fist pump for pulling it off without crashing and burning.
We arrived down the small corridor that led to Xander’s office. The brilliance of the fluorescent lights spilled through the frosted glass door at the end of the hall. Our steps echoed as we increas
ed our pace. It seemed Jaxon was ready to get this part of our night over with.
His hand wrapped around the steel door handle and as he began to walk in, I heard him gasp.
“For the love of God…”
I fell in step behind him, anxious to see what the commotion was about.
Sitting on the center examining table was Legs, hooked up to Riggs’s mechanical arm.
Legs’s face was filled with sheer elation as he bent the arm at the elbow; the cogs whirred in finely tuned and oiled synchronization. The metal fingers clinked together as he flexed the hand instinctively, the focus on his face clear.
I let out a jittery laugh, and Legs’s head snapped in my direction. “You came!”
Jaxon pointed to his chest, then waved his bandaged arm as though it were evidence in a court case. “Don’t mind me, I’m the guy that saved you, never mind that you stabbed me while in a drug-induced panic. No reason to acknowledge my presence. Carry on.”
Legs looked at him with narrow eyes, and for a moment I wondered if he would try to crush him with the ultra-strong arm he now possessed. He seemed to deliberate as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, then smiled sheepishly and waved his new arm.
“My fault. Hello.”
Jaxon shrugged and walked back to the corner of Xander’s room without saying another word. The leather chair gave a whoosh of air as Jaxon tossed himself into it with an exaggerated, melancholy sigh and grabbed a nearby book. As he flipped the pages disinterestedly, he muttered to himself so low that I was able to only catch a few words, most of them colorful. I turned my focus back to Legs. He sat quietly, in obvious wonderment, as Xander checked all of the connections.
I glanced to the corner of the room where I knew a camera was mounted. It was turned toward the niche on the other side of the room with a cord dangling. Xander must have disarmed it. Sari was going to have to keep Riggs from noticing that.
“So how’d this happen?” I asked Xander, as I motioned toward the arm. “I thought you said it was impossible to get it.”
A crooked smile tickled the corner of his lips. “Impossible for you,” he said lightly. His mischievous grin made me laugh. A small oiling can sat at the edge of the bed, and Xander picked it up to oil up one particular cog that wasn’t moving as seamlessly as the others. “For me, it was a matter of explaining to Riggs that I wanted to run tests on a few subjects in order to create a more powerful version. He happily agreed to let me borrow it, as long as it came back in one piece. I agreed, since he never set a return date.”
The comment about subjects made my skin crawl. Xander’s eyes caught mine, and his smile faltered. “I thought you’d be happy I got him the arm…”
“No, no, I’m happy,” I said reassuringly, not wanting to offend him, “but when you say subject…”
“He doesn’t have a tracker, if that’s what you mean.” Xander said. “That would defeat the purpose of your little mission, now wouldn’t it?”
I smiled, glad to have the confirmation Xander hadn’t accidentally ruined our plans before they were even in place. “Yes, it would,” I agreed, laughing at myself for being worried. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Xander said. “Come, take a look. I think you’ll be impressed.”
I walked closer to Legs and he held out his arm. My fingers traced the thin steel poles that ran along the sides and protected the central shaft. It was like looking at a metal representation of a skeleton. The intricacies, while made of metal and wire, were beautiful.
“It’s amazing,” I breathed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
My fingers ran up to the shoulder, where Legs’s flesh now met the steel beams. Xander had a large bandage over the actual connecting point at the elbow, but I assumed that it would look a bit strange when the bandage came off.
I traced the line of the bandage and Legs winced. “Does it hurt?”
He smiled and wiggled his metal fingers. “A little, but being able to move my fingers again is nice, even if they’re prosthetics.”
“This arm is going to be better than your human arm by a hundred times,” Xander said confidently.
Legs’s eyes never left mine, and his smile was gentle. “I’ll be happy to be able to hug someone again.”
His flesh hand covered my own, and I stared at them, his on top of mine. I wondered what he saw when he looked down at the hands. Friendship? Solidarity? Hope for more? When he spoke, my eyes lifted to meet his. “Thank you for saving me,” he said earnestly. “Seems like we always find a way to help each other. I owe you.”
“Along with me,” Jaxon called from the corner.
“Along with you,” Legs said cheerfully, his eyes never leaving mine. “You really are a welcome sight, Avery. Beauty in the face of horrible things.”
Xander coughed back what sounded like a laugh, and I closed my eyes in embarrassment.
“I do have something interesting to report that Legs isn’t telling you,” Xander quipped from across the room, where he leaned casually against the corner countertops. He pulled a vial of blood from the pocket of his jacket and lifted it up to the light, the crimson liquid staining the container when he turned it sideways. “Legs is able to mimic some of your abilities now.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Not in the slightest. I’m not sure why he hadn’t mentioned it.”
Legs flashed me a look before breaking into a wide smile. “I was circumvented by Jaxon’s pouting.”
Jaxon raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe in pouting. I simply believe in making sure people are aware of my discomforts so that they’ll be remedied in a timely manner. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and all that.”
“The squeaky wheel also gets replaced,” Legs said mildly as he fought to keep his face impassive. These two were going to kill each other if they stayed together for much longer.
“Well let me see something before we leave,” I said hastily, hoping to postpone the impending wrestling match. “Let’s see if you’re on par with me.”
“I’m not,” Legs said with a small smile. “I can light candles or make Xander’s coffee steam more than it should. Nothing like bursting wine goblets into flames.”
I dropped my gaze and felt Jaxon’s eyes on me. He didn’t know that story. “So you heard about that, huh?”
“Word travels fast here. Riggs called Xander down, and when he came back, he was cracking up as he told me the story. Xander said you gave that Riggs guy a pretty good scare,” Legs said smugly. “Serves him right. I’ll make sure he gets what’s coming to him.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Jaxon interjected. “He’s my father.”
Xander seemed unhappy with the digression of the conversation. “Let’s not get into that right now.”
He opened a drawer and rummaged through it, the contents rattling and clanking together. Finally he extracted a long candle that had a fresh, unburned wick at its peak. He pointed it at Jaxon, but then spoke to all of us.
“Legs, show them your candle trick.”
Legs narrowed his eyes, focusing on the candle. Nothing happened.
It was a few seconds of silence before Jaxon’s patience waned. “Excellent trick; stare the candle into submission.”
Just then the candle’s wick burst into a flame that was too large for the candle to control. Half the wax softened and melted.
Xander dropped the candle in surprise, but then whooped in excitement. “See there, Jax! I wouldn’t make him mad if I were you. Before long, Avery will be able to coach him on how to handle this.”
I doubled over from laughing at Jaxon’s disgruntled face. I applauded Legs. “Nice one!”
His face beamed with excitement. Inside, I was full of mixed emotions. Legs was creating elements. I hadn’t been able to master that. Did Xander know my shortcomings? Maybe Legs could teach me how to do that.
I tried to keep my voice carefree. “Xander, how’d this happen?”
Xander shrugged. “To be honest, I’m n
ot sure. I think it’s something in your blood. I’ve never seen anyone manifest abilities if they weren’t exposed to radiation, and Legs swears he’s never been exposed.”
Jaxon stood with his arms crossed. “Excellent. Now we’ve got Avery’s blood making everyone odd.”
Xander extended the vial to Jaxon. “Would you like to test the theory?”
Jaxon snapped his fingers in mock disappointment. “Damn, Xander, that was my goal yesterday: to become a repeat human guinea pig. You missed the deadline. Lucky for you, I’m sure Riggs will have you testing that theory on subjects in no time.”
I gripped his arm tightly. “Jaxon, he’s on our side.”
Jaxon’s eyes burned with anger as he shrugged me off. “I don’t even know why you’d ask me that, Xander. Have you been spending too much time with Riggs? I thought you were supposed to be on our side, like Avery said.”
Xander looked down quickly, appearing to be battered from Jaxon’s words. “I apologize, Jax. There was no ill intention. It wouldn’t hurt you.” He looked at me sincerely. “I was simply trying to see if Avery was the, shall we say, universal donor for abilities, as she’s the universal donor for blood type. It would be a huge step forward.”
I nodded. “I understand, but let’s keep that between the four of us. Information like this could get me into trouble.”
He deposited the small vial of my blood back in his pocket. “Indeed it could. We’ll see how Legs takes to the new abilities and go from there.”
Jaxon, obviously flustered by the turn of events, fidgeted with a stray dreadlock. “Well, it’s been real, but can we go now?”
I gave Legs a quick hug and a small kiss on the cheek.
“Keep practicing,” I said in his ear. “It takes a lot out of you when you create elements, so take your time. And let your new arm heal. It won’t do you any good to try to work on Elementalist things when you aren’t one hundred percent yourself.”
Legs smiled and put his hand on mine. “You got it, boss.”
As I made to pull away, his hand grasped mine and he pulled me back to him. “I came for you, Avery.”
